Can you share your experience with rate increases, if you've had this plan for more than a year? And are AARP/UHC's rate increases roughly in line with other carriers?

My wife joined the AARP/UnitedHealthcare Plan F a year ago. Likes it. I turn 65 in September. We both have pre-existing conditions. If I also sign up with AARP/UHC, I think there's a modest 'household' discount.

I'm concerned about future rate increases, since it appears to me that we will not be able to change carriers without medical underwriting -- unless we change to a Medicare Advantage plan (in which case, we may not be able to change back to a regular Medigap plan), or to a lower benefit plan within our carrier.

I thought the High Deductible Plan F might be a good choice in future if the regular Plan F rates get too high, but AARP/UHC says they're "not currently offering the HD Plan F. Should that worry me?

Thanks for any feedback,
Bill

P.S. Before my wife signed up for Medicare/Medigap, our small biz (2 employees) group insurance was with UHC. Always double digit rate increases -- sometimes 20 or 30%, and once, 50%. Zero negotiating leverage, and, because of the preexistings, rate quotes from other carries were even higher. Can you say Oligopoly? I don't think the carriers can go quite so crazy with Medigap plans, but I have no illusions about insurance carriers in general, or the AARP label on UHC insurance in particular.

All Medigap plans increase rates, some more than others. You decided on AARP's Medigap. Did you compare rates of other companies at http://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan/que ... -home.aspx ? I am on my 15th year with Medigap and my wife on her 8th I started with AARP, but that lasted only one year because of their rate increase. i compared rates for plans several times over the years and made changes. There really isn't a difference with the service of Plan F or any other plan between companies. Medicare requires that the service for Plan F, for example, be the same for all companies. I am on my 3rd Medigap plan (Unicare) and my wife is on her 3rd (Mutual of Omaha), both are excellent in service as were for the plans we had earlier and both have increased rates almost annually. Why aren't we using the same company? Because they gave different quotes for us. I expect that we can't change plans any longer because of preconditions, unless, of course, the insurance company no longer insures, so we have what we have from now on. It was interesting that my wife was able to make a change to her present plan even after she was diagnosed with diabetes, but I doubt that she could now.

I never looked at the high deductible plans, so I can't reply on those.

Our last rate increases were 22.6% for my wife in August 2012, and 9.9% for me in August 2012. I expect to find increases again next month with mine being considerably higher because I will be 80 in September and rates always make larger jumps for our plans on 5 year increments.

People should not say everything they think. They should think about everything they say.

I've had mine for 2 yrs..........no surprises yet. I think they said recent historical increases in the 3% range each yr. You also enroll
with an age-based "discount" that phases out at 3%/yr so I expected a 6%/yr increase and so far it been close to that.

The way I understand it, you can choose a different carrier for your Plan F during your birthday enrollment window each year. This is different than the window that opens each year for your medicare "D" prescription plan. If you're going from a plan F from aarp to a Plan F from say Anthem or any other carrier that offers it, there should be no underwriting. If you went from another plan and tried to move up to a Plan F, there would be underwriting involved.

I went with Plan F Hi Ded from Anthem. AARP didn't offer it where I live. It came out to about $450 annually or about $38 per month. Since medicare part b pays about 80%, I pay the other 20% after medicare and when I hit $2100 out of pocket, the Hi-f plan pays everything after.

In New Jersey, AARP (UHC) and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield are
very popular. There is no historical statistics of Medigap rate increases.
All Medigap rate increases have to be approved by NJ Department of
Banking and Insurance (DOBI).

One can only decide insurance company based on current information.
It would be too hard to predict the future for Medicare and Medigap.

It is worth contacting your county SHIP (State Health Insurance
Assistance Program) counselor for more information.

rixer wrote:The way I understand it, you can choose a different carrier for your Plan F during your birthday enrollment window each year. This is different than the window that opens each year for your medicare "D" prescription plan. If you're going from a plan F from aarp to a Plan F from say Anthem or any other carrier that offers it, there should be no underwriting. If you went from another plan and tried to move up to a Plan F, there would be underwriting involved.
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Are you in CA? I know CA has this rule but it seems to be quite uncommon among the other states.

I have the AARP Plan F flavor which has me paying no deductible and no copays, and with Medicare itself covers 100% of my bills, at least so far. I think there are limits when you get into catastrophic territory, which so far I have not.

It is nirvana to not mess with tracking all those bills. I have spent maybe $100 a year out of pocket since I started this, for stuff like an annual obgyn checkup, which at least up to now Medicare only covered every two years. This includes a hospital stay which cost me $0.

UHC administers AARP's plan, but it is night and day from being insured by UHC directly. UHC ran my employer's plan before I retired, and I don't have enough time in a week to tell you how bad they were; patients and doctors hate UHC.

The AARP plan is run totally differently. It's just like what you would want as a patient if you designed a health insurance plan. Whether this is because of Medicare or AARP, I have no idea.

I think the premiums vary by location. Here are mine. There's some sort of initial discount which I think I used up a year or two ago:

I tried sending this earlier, but it did not seem to go through...so I'm trying again. AARP has a unique premium price when first enrolling. You receive a 30% discount. This discount disappears over a ten year period, three percent each year. Premium wise what this means is that if your regular premium increase would be 2%, then you total premium increase for the year would be 5%.

When you initially choose your Medigap plan, there is no medical underwriting. Each year thereafter, so long as you stay with the same company and the same plan, their is no underwriting. Pay your premiums and you remain covered. However, as I understand it, if you want to choose a different plan with the same insurer, the insurer has the option of asking about medical underwriting. The insurer does not have to ask, but it can. If you choose to move from one insurer to another, but keep the same plan, e.g., Plan F, the insurer can ask medical underwriting questions. Again, it does not have to, but it can.

Insurers do have written information on their medical underwriting policies. Call and ask for a copy.

Although Medigap is standard across the nation, the rates are not. The amount, and timing of your rate increase will be determined by your State Department of Insurance.

Here in TX AARP Medigap plans tend to run on the high side. That is not necessarily true for other states.

There is a huge difference between the regular Plan F and the HD Plan F. Before you "pull the trigger" on the HD Plan F, take the time to look at your other options. I work with Medigap clients and prefer Plan G. It is typically much less than Plan F and only requires you to pay your Medicare B deductible each year.

Most importantly, if you truly do have a pre-existing condition, you will need to find a Medigap provider that you are willing to stick with for the rest of your life. Your guaranteed issue right for Medigap is only the 7 months around your 65th birthday, unless you can qualify for a Special Election Period at a later date. That is called your Initial Election Period. After your Initial Election Period expires, you will be subject to medical underwriting if you ever decide to switch insurance companies in the future.

Remember, Medigap is not like Medicare Advantage. There is no Annual Election Period when you can change insurance companies regardless of your health.

rixer wrote:The way I understand it, you can choose a different carrier for your Plan F during your birthday enrollment window each year. This is different than the window that opens each year for your medicare "D" prescription plan. If you're going from a plan F from aarp to a Plan F from say Anthem or any other carrier that offers it, there should be no underwriting. If you went from another plan and tried to move up to a Plan F, there would be underwriting involved.
.

Are you in CA? I know CA has this rule but it seems to be quite uncommon among the other states.

Yes, I'm in Ca. I am just turning 65 and this is the info I've been getting here. I don't know about other states, but here, the way it has been explained to me by several different agents, you have a window during your birth month each year to change providers without an underwriting. You must remain in the same type plan for this. Plan F to Plan F, Plan F Hi-Ded to Plan F Hi-Ded etc.

The only difference in Plan F and Plan F Hi-Ded is at age 65, you pay around $145 per month for Plan F which comes out to $1752 out of pocket annually. Plan F Hi-Ded worse case, costs $38 per month, ( $450 annual rate) plus $2100 ded = $2550 out of pocket max. So if you have a lot of med issues, Plan F Hi-Ded could cost you $800 more per year, worst case. Not so bad considering you're saving about $1300 per year when you're not having medical issues. For me, it was saving money and knowing if I need medical care it's not an issue, I'm covered.

rixer wrote:
Yes, I'm in Ca. I am just turning 65 and this is the info I've been getting here. I don't know about other states, but here, the way it has been explained to me by several different agents, you have a window during your birth month each year to change providers without an underwriting. You must remain in the same type plan for this. Plan F to Plan F, Plan F Hi-Ded to Plan F Hi-Ded etc.

I believe you can downgrade plans w/o underwriting..........just can't upgrade.

rixer wrote:
Yes, I'm in Ca. I am just turning 65 and this is the info I've been getting here. I don't know about other states, but here, the way it has been explained to me by several different agents, you have a window during your birth month each year to change providers without an underwriting. You must remain in the same type plan for this. Plan F to Plan F, Plan F Hi-Ded to Plan F Hi-Ded etc.

I believe you can downgrade plans w/o underwriting..........just can't upgrade.

Michele120 wrote:Most importantly, if you truly do have a pre-existing condition, you will need to find a Medigap provider that you are willing to stick with for the rest of your life.

That's my concern. In an ideal world, you could switch providers with no underwriting. With our pre-existings, it's unlikely we could get a better rate with another carrier (or maybe even get insured with another carrier).

Sheepdog wrote:All Medigap plans increase rates, some more than others. You decided on AARP's Medigap. Did you compare rates of other companies at http://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan/que ... -home.aspx ? I am on my 15th year with Medigap and my wife on her 8th I started with AARP, but that lasted only one year because of their rate increase. i compared rates for plans several times over the years and made changes. There really isn't a difference with the service of Plan F or any other plan between companies. Medicare requires that the service for Plan F, for example, be the same for all companies. I am on my 3rd Medigap plan (Unicare) and my wife is on her 3rd (Mutual of Omaha), both are excellent in service as were for the plans we had earlier and both have increased rates almost annually. Why aren't we using the same company? Because they gave different quotes for us. I expect that we can't change plans any longer because of preconditions, unless, of course, the insurance company no longer insures, so we have what we have from now on. It was interesting that my wife was able to make a change to her present plan even after she was diagnosed with diabetes, but I doubt that she could now.

I never looked at the high deductible plans, so I can't reply on those.

Our last rate increases were 22.6% for my wife in August 2012, and 9.9% for me in August 2012. I expect to find increases again next month with mine being considerably higher because I will be 80 in September and rates always make larger jumps for our plans on 5 year increments.

be careful you waist money check with your 2013 medicare pay out guide line or call medicare how much medicare pay out and the medigap

frugaltype wrote:UHC administers AARP's plan, but it is night and day from being insured by UHC directly. UHC ran my employer's plan before I retired, and I don't have enough time in a week to tell you how bad they were; patients and doctors hate UHC.

We should form a 'survivors' club.

frugaltype wrote:The AARP plan is run totally differently. It's just like what you would want as a patient if you designed a health insurance plan. Whether this is because of Medicare or AARP, I have no idea.

frugaltype wrote:
UHC administers AARP's plan, but it is night and day from being insured by UHC directly. UHC ran my employer's plan before I retired, and I don't have enough time in a week to tell you how bad they were; patients and doctors hate UHC.

That's interesting. I also have unpleasant experience with UHC. Still, since I like Horizon's service as a current customer I'm going to probably go with them when I retire in a couple of years.

frugaltype wrote:I have the AARP Plan F flavor which has me paying no deductible and no copays, and with Medicare itself covers 100% of my bills, at least so far. I think there are limits when you get into catastrophic territory, which so far I have not.

It is nirvana to not mess with tracking all those bills. I have spent maybe $100 a year out of pocket since I started this, for stuff like an annual obgyn checkup, which at least up to now Medicare only covered every two years. This includes a hospital stay which cost me $0.

UHC administers AARP's plan, but it is night and day from being insured by UHC directly. UHC ran my employer's plan before I retired, and I don't have enough time in a week to tell you how bad they were; patients and doctors hate UHC.

The AARP plan is run totally differently. It's just like what you would want as a patient if you designed a health insurance plan. Whether this is because of Medicare or AARP, I have no idea.

I think the premiums vary by location. Here are mine. There's some sort of initial discount which I think I used up a year or two ago:

2010: $1505.56
2011: $1690.00
2012: $1792.91
2013: $1959.63

Agree with frugaltype; AARP is a good plan but the United Health stand alone has a bad rep. In Florida the docs ask for the 20% up front and then the patient has to get their payout back from UH. When I started Medigap I lived in CT, moved to Florida and the plan jumped like 25% instantly because we are in Medicare land. The dear wife started two years after me and went with United World (Mutual of Omaha) at a much lower rate. Today her yearly costs are higher than mine!
As mentioned, all plans of the same type have equal coverage. Service reputation and pricing separates the providers.
Ask your neighbors and your docs who they recommend.
I believe you can use an insurance rep to help make the decision at no added cost for the plan you choose.
Good Luck

Thanks, everyone, for your responses and excellent information. Very helpful.

I guess my original post was really asking an unknowable question -- how will rate increases look in the future, and which carrier is the best choice for "pre-existing condition" folks like us -- assuming we have to stick with that carrier forever?

After re-reading all your posts, and medicare.gov, it seems to me that there are very few ways -- and almost no practical ways -- to switch carriers after the initial sign-up without going thru medical underwriting -- which in our case would likely mean significant write-ups or being turned down altogether. Unless we get lucky. Unless there's some brief, unannounced open enrollment known only to agents, etc.

The only usable option I can see is varying state rules.

In California, it seems you can change carriers without underwriting. That's a solution if you live in California, but for us, it would be an expensive move.

Does anyone know of other states that allow that? Or that do a better than average job of trying to tamp down the size of carrier rate increases?

mur44 wrote:Only two states (New York and Connecticut) allow you to buy
a Medigap plan at any time. You need to have a Guarantee Issue
to buy a Medigap plan in other states.

Disclosure: I am a Certified Volunteer Medicare Counselor from NJ

In Ca you can't just buy a medigap plan any time you choose. You can change carriers and stay with the same plan or go down in plans without underwriting if you do it in your birth month. You can do it every year if you want, it's still guaranteed issue.

Thanks for this discussion. My own experience with Medigap is that at age 65 I chose BCBS Plan F and paid (I believe) $155. At 66 my premium increased to $158. But this year when I turned 67, my premium jumped to $185. I immediately began looking at other insurers.

I spoke with several people who had AARP UnitedHealthCare and were unhappy with it, mostly for problems with customer service. One doctor's office told me that they loved dealing with Mutual of Omaha, and since I had just received a mailing from them which showed a considerably lower premium, I contacted them. I was told they would respond within 2 days. It has now been more than 2 weeks (during which time I tried twice more to get to speak with someone, always to be told that someone would contact me within 2 days).

So, I went back to BCBS and looked at their other plans and decided that I could save a little with Plan G (about $22/month). If I pay the Plan G $147 Medicare deductible, I would then save $117/year -- not much, but a savings nonetheless. However, after reading your posts about not having any problems in reducing coverage, but possibly having to qualify to increase it, I think I may stay with F (at least for now). Some of my fears are that G is not offered everywhere -- if we should relocate to where it is not offered, what then? Also, it is possible the Medicare deductible might increase more in the future, wiping out the tiny savings I would achieve from Plan G. My premium certainly will increase every year, but I hope it is not as great as this year's 17% increase. Maybe by my next birthday Mutual of Omaha will have finally returned my call and I can sign up with them for a better rate (although I read comments that their initial rate is really a "teaser" rate and increases a lot in subsequent years. They do offer a 7% reduction though if both spouses sign up.)

My final comment is that BCBS has been excellent with my few claims. My husband also has regular BCBS with his former employer till he turns 65 next year. He has had thousands of dollars in Medical claims over the past year and a half, and BCBS has also been excellent with those claims. I hope retirees continue to keep sharing their experiences with claims paying and premium increases and customer service with their own insurance companies. It helps all of us. Thanks.

UHC administers AARP's plan, but it is night and day from being insured by UHC directly. UHC ran my employer's plan before I retired, and I don't have enough time in a week to tell you how bad they were; patients and doctors hate UHC.

The AARP plan is run totally differently. It's just like what you would want as a patient if you designed a health insurance plan. Whether this is because of Medicare or AARP, I have no idea.

I am due to enroll in Feb, visited my SHIP guy this week, and the price list he gave me listed them as aarp/united healthcare and later united healthcare/aarp, like they were one and the same entity. same price for both.

very confusing

Last edited by montanagirl on Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mur44 wrote:Only two states (New York and Connecticut) allow you to buy
a Medigap plan at any time. You need to have a Guarantee Issue
to buy a Medigap plan in other states.

Disclosure: I am a Certified Volunteer Medicare Counselor from NJ

In Ca you can't just buy a medigap plan any time you choose. You can change carriers and stay with the same plan or go down in plans without underwriting if you do it in your birth month. You can do it every year if you want, it's still guaranteed issue.

Does anyone know the details of the arrangment between UHC and AARP? I didn't think AARP had an insurance license and that the UHC was using AARP to co brand the plan and paid AARP for their endorsement and advertising. But that may not be the case...............

In my area the MA Plans from AARP/UHC are charging a premium for 2014 for the first time plus other co pay and out of pocket max increases. So Humana is running a huge advertising blitz for their -0- premium plan. It appears that MA plans will be taking this approach as the terms of the ACA legislation include substantial reduction of the federal subsidy to MA plans over the next few years. By the end of this time period am concerned that MA premiums may approach Medigap without the coverage transparency of the standardized Medigap plans. If so, we will be joining a few million others locked into MA plans with only a withdrawal of the plan making a GI possible for Medigap. We are NOT moving to one of the annual GI states.

I spoke with several people who had AARP UnitedHealthCare and were unhappy with it, mostly for problems with customer service.

I'll preface this by noting that my parents are on Medicare; I'm not. However, I'm confused.

How does customer service come into play on a Medigap plan? My understanding is that if Medicare pays, the Medigap plan pays. If Medicare doesn't pay, the Medigap doesn't either. Where does "customer service" come in?

FWIW, my wife/me have just signed up for the regular AARP/UHC "F" plan; we're both 65. AARP/UHC does not offer the high deductable "F" plan in our area - not that we would be interested anyway due to our current medical "challanges".

Unlike other plans we looked at, it is community rated rather than age related so increases will depend on our cohort of users of the plan - not just because our age changes.

We're limited in our choices for Medigap coverage, since the company I retired from has just dropped their Medigap insurance provider of many years, and has the retirees going through an exchange (Extend Health/TW) to select our own plan. They are just giving us a set amount every year (no COLA) in an HRA to be used for health premiums/expenses and we're on our own. Unfortunately, we can't go out on our own to get coverage from any insurance company. Well, we can, but then we lose the contribution to our health plan expenses if we don't go through Extend Health/TW.

The monthly premium is $121.68 which includes the $12/yr discount for direct billing for each of us. I/wife just received a separate mailing from AARP/UHC for the 30% discount so I will have to contact them next week to find out how that offer works (if at all) with the policy we just purchased from the exchange. It might have been built into the on-line tool we used on the Extend Health/TW site when we were comparing available plans.

Each of us has selected a different PDP (Part D - Drug) provider since we're quite different in our perscription requirements. But than again, I'm sure we will always be different since our health maintenance needs are quite different.

I spoke with several people who had AARP UnitedHealthCare and were unhappy with it, mostly for problems with customer service.

I'll preface this by noting that my parents are on Medicare; I'm not. However, I'm confused.

How does customer service come into play on a Medigap plan? My understanding is that if Medicare pays, the Medigap plan pays. If Medicare doesn't pay, the Medigap doesn't either. Where does "customer service" come in?

Customer service comes into play when it comes to the competency and efficiency of the organization. Yes they all pay eventually, but if they screw up the processing it can cause you a lot of misery until they get it right. I speak from experience. My plan put in a new system a few years ago, and messed up my records for over two years before they got it all corrected. In the meantime the customer service reps had no idea what was happening, claims weren't getting paid, and the doctors were billing me.

Alan S. wrote:Does anyone know the details of the arrangment between UHC and AARP? I didn't think AARP had an insurance license and that the UHC was using AARP to co brand the plan and paid AARP for their endorsement and advertising. But that may not be the case...............

From AARP: AARP® MedicareComplete® and AARP® MedicareRx Plans carry the AARP name, and UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company pays royalty fees to AARP for the use of its intellectual property. These fees are used for the general purposes of AARP. You do not need to be an AARP member to enroll. AARP and its affiliates are not insurers.

People should not say everything they think. They should think about everything they say.